Comedy in Don Quixote Essay

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Pages: 9

Q.2 Wherein lies the comedy in part one of Don Quixote?

The story Don Quixote is a burlesque, mock epic of the romances of chivalry, in which Cervantes teaches the reader the truth by creating laughter that ridicules. Through the protagonist, he succeeds in satirizing Spain’s obsession with the noble knights as being absurdly old fashioned. The dynamics of the comedy in this story are simple, Don Quixote believes the romances he has read and strives to live them out, and it is his actions and the situations that he finds himself in during his adventures that make the reader laugh. We can define comedy as something that entertains the reader and that makes us want to laugh out loud and Cervantes succeeds in doing this through his use of
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In this case, Cervantes is deliberately dramatizing the situation to make it seem more humorous and the dubbing of Don Quixote as a knight is a perfect example of comedy through Cervantes’ use of overblown style. Instead of a king or an emperor, it is the innkeeper who arms Don Quixote as a knight and it is not a virgin, but a prostitute, who places the sword on him in the inn. In Spanish lore, inns were renowned as places of ludicrous mishap and thus Cervantes has again created a complete parody of Spanish chivalry considering that all of the circumstances under which he has been dubbed utterly disqualify him as a knight. The situation is so ridiculous that it is inevitably comic, not only for the reader but also for the women who are in attendance
“no fue menester poco para no reventar de risa a cada punto de las ceremonias”
These women act similarly to those who are left behind after Andrés leaves, who also “tuviesen mucha cuenta con no reírse”. Therefore, in describing the reactions of those who interact with Don Quixote, Cervantes manages to even further enhance the comedy of the situation being described.

In addition to the comedy of appearance and situation in Don Quixote, comedy of the action is also paramount in considering